Recently, personal watercraft have achieved substantial popularity for recreational activities including pleasure boating and waterskiing. The ready portability and storability of these personal watercraft, and relatively economical price, put them within reach of potential users who previously had no place to store, or could not afford, a fullsize boat. The watercraft's small size permits the user to transport the craft to the water's edge in a pickup truck or small trailer, then carry the watercraft to the water. The compact size of the watercraft is a disadvantage, however, when the user wants to transport sports or camping gear to a less-inhabited area, or when the distance to be traveled is greater than that permitted by the fuel capacity of the craft's tank. The watercraft has no storage provision with the exception of commercially available saddlebags, which still have a very limited capacity.
With the increasing popularity of personal watercraft, it is anticipated that they will be used for a wider variety of activities beyond pleasure boating and waterskiing, where the activity is done primarily in the immediate area of the dropoff point. The personal watercraft may be used for numerous activities including traveling to campsites at locations of lakes or rivers remote from parking, transporting scuba gear to dive spots, traveling to fishing spots away from crowds, getting away to remote water ski or surfing areas, and just traveling to an isolated spot for a day at the beach, river or lake.
Similar to personal watercraft are snowmobiles which are restricted in their range of travel due to limited fuel capacity, and which have limited storage provision for carrying gear such as skis, snow shoes, camping and hunting equipment and extra fuel.
It would be desirable to provide an apparatus and method for transporting gear to permit the user of a personal motorcraft to venture away from the vehicle in which they arrived. It is to this object that the present invention is directed.